Solar Panels, Uncompromising Quality, Best Warranties

Solar Panels

Harnessing the power of the sun seems both ancient and incredibly futuristic. Any given day, the earth receives 6,000 more times the solar energy it needs to power its current needs. The life-sustaining power of the sun that was worshipped in antiquity has become the energizing force of today powering homes and eventually even the cities of tomorrow. While people have been benefiting from and learning about solar energy for untold centuries, the actual solar revolution we are experiencing today began in the twentieth century with the production of the first practical photovoltaic (PV) cell in 1954. Since then, the power of the solar panel and its eventual commercialization is one of the driving forces of the alternative energy future the world is working toward today.

History of Solar Technology

The solar or photovoltaic (PV) cell is essentially the building block of the solar panel. In 1839 at the age of nineteen, A.E. Becquerel made the first solar cell in France. Regarded as a marvel, this early solar cell wasn’t improved upon until 1883 when selenium was used as the cell’s semiconductor. It wasn’t until 1905, however, that the photovoltaic effect was thoroughly explained by the likes of Albert Einstein who wound up winning the Nobel Prize as a result of his explanations in 1921. Of course, the practical solar cell didn’t come about until 1954 when Bell Laboratories created a silicon-based cell that demonstrated a 6% efficiency rate (the earlier cell only demonstrated .5% efficiency). By 1960, the solar cell’s efficiency hit 14%. The 1960s and 70s would see a demonstrable increase in scientists working to make solar commercially viable from a price per watt standpoint. It wasn’t until the American energy crisis of the 1970s, though, that solar really hit its stride and improvements in the technology would finally launch solar as a viable commercial option for electricity in the 1980s.

Solar in Recent Decades

From the 1980s on, solar use and solar advances have increased steadily, albeit with occasional dips, in both North America as well as other parts of the world. Today, Germany leads the solar initiative with more solar production and penetration than anywhere else in the world. Advances in solar cells and solar panels are now beginning to challenge traditional fossil fuels in terms of both efficiency and cost. Yet solar is clean energy and its sustainable renewal has more and more people around the globe energizing their homes with the power of the sun. In the remote villages of many developing nations where electricity has never been used, people are skipping fossil fuels altogether and going straight to alternative and eco-friendly energies like solar.

Some Interesting Fun Facts about Solar Energy

• Though not the largest user of solar energy, China is the world’s leading producer of solar cells.
• Currently, Germany is producing so much excess alternative green energy using solar that it is now selling this power to neighboring nations.
• A ton of sand used to make photovoltaic cells produces the equivalent amount of energy as 500,000 tons of coal burned up in a power plant.
• A plane fueled by solar energy crossed the United States in 1990 exciting the world with the real possibility of moving beyond reliance on oil and other fossil fuels.
• While a mere few decades ago most U.S. residents could not afford to install solar power systems in their homes, today with wholesale prices of the best solar panels, costs represent a 400% decrease from costs three decades ago.

To better understand the cost of the different types of solar panels and what makes one cheaper and one more expensive, we need to look at the two most common module materials. Monocrystalline silicon solar panels are made from a ingot of highly pure poly silicon melted and mixed with boron. The monocrystalline silicon seed is dipped into a molten bath over many hours until it grows into a large cylindrical crystal. Monocrystalline solar used most commonly on homes and businesses have an efficiency of 14% to 17%.

Canadian Solar, Mission and Panasonic polycrystalline silicon modules are made from a cast of many silicon crystals because it makes for modules that have different performance characteristics than monocrystalline solar panels. You can usually tell the difference between the most efficient solar panels which are monocrystalline and the cost of polycrystalline solar panel not just because of cost, but polycrystalline solar panels generally have a blue hue Vs. the black color monocrystalline solar panel.

At Blue Pacific Solar® a question our consultants are asked often is what is the most efficient solar panels? Efficient solar panels are calculated on the ratio of power output to power input. What that means in laymen's terms is solar irradiance (the suns energy) is multiplied by the area of the solar device to determine the watts of solar power. (Electrical Power) The more of the suns energy (solar power per sq. meter) that is converted to electricity as a relationship to the size of the solar module, hence, the higher the efficient solar panel. The real answer to the question depends on the usage. As an example, thin film solar is not as efficient as monocrystalline or polycrystalline solar panels, but does better in extremely hot environments.

Solar panels are formed from many solar cells wired together to form a solar panel or module. Solar panels are constructed from solar cells that are sandwiched between several layers of protective materials, supported by an aluminum frame with some type of glass cover. Where you start to really see the difference between cheaply constructed and best quality solar panels is in the assembly, materials used in the panel parts and how many blocking diodes a panel may have. Higher quality solar panels have more blocking diodes (which improve performance is slight shading issues exist) and use higher quality low iron glass and durable frame materials.

Bypass or blocking diodes are used to pass current around rather than through a group of solar cells. The electrical current is allowed to pass around a cell or group of cells that have been shaded or develop an open-circuit condition. This process many timesdistinguish the difference between cheap PV modules and best solar panels where higher quality standards are adhered to. Trina Solar, Solarworld and Suniva solar panel manufactures set a high bar for all other residential solar panel companies. You can buy cheap solar panels, but be careful you are getting a quality product not a defective or flawed rejected panel which sometimes are sold as type A panels without blemishes.